Dr John N. Miksic is Professor in the Southeast Asian Studies Department, National University of Singapore. Before moving to Singapore, I spent four years in Malaysia (1968-72) as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I completed an MA in International Affairs at Ohio University, and another MA and PhD in the Department of Anthropology at Cornell University. My dissertation, Archaeology, Trade, and Society in Northeast Sumatra, was based on archaeological fieldwork in Sumatra at the site of Kota Cina (“Chinese Fort”). I worked as a Rural Development Planning and Management Advisor in Bengkulu, Sumatra from 1979 to 1981 under a USAID project.
In 1981 I moved to Gadjah Mada University, where I joined the Department of Archaeology with support from the Ford Foundation and Asian Cultural Council. I taught six courses including research methods, ceramic studies, and historical archaeology, and led research projects in Java, Sumatra, and Singapore.
In 1987 I came to Singapore. I first taught in the Department of History at NUS; in 1991 I joined the newly-formed Southeast Asian Studies Programme, as the Department was then called. I have served on the National Heritage Board and the advisory boards of the National University Museum and the Asian Civilisations Museum. I have received awards from Singapore and Indonesia for contributions to the study of Southeast Asian culture. I served on the board of the Center for Khmer Studies from 2000 until 2016.
My current research projects include the archaeology of ancient ports on the shores of the Straits of Melaka, early cities in Indonesia, Cambodia, and Myanmar, and ceramic analysis. I have supervised 20 M.A. and Ph.D. theses. I manage the Archaeology Laboratory for the Department of Southeast Asian Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, NUS.
Image Credits: Alpheus Media
